Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson

All American Television

When: 1990-2006 Sex symbolism: She got her start, like so many sex symbols, in the pages of Playboy, but it was the sight of her bounding (and bouncing) through the surf as California lifeguard C.J. Parker on "Baywatch" that cemented her sex symbol status. For a while the series was the biggest television show in the world, and it appeared Pam's sex symbol-dom had reached its apex. But then a sex tape of her and husband Tommy Lee got leaked to the Internet and launched a cottage industry of leaked intimate tapes between beautiful young actresses and their smarmy boyfriends (Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian soon followed suit.) Though embarrassing, it transformed Anderson into a whole new kind of icon one who straddled the legitimate and increasingly mainstream pornographic world without seeming out of place in either one. Once she became a punchline in Sacha Baron Cohen's movie "Borat," however, it was apparent her influence was on the wane.

When: 1990-2006 Sex symbolism: She got her start, like so many sex symbols, in the pages of Playboy, but it was the sight of her bounding (and bouncing) through the surf as California lifeguard C.J. Parker on "Baywatch" that cemented her sex symbol status. For a while the series was the biggest television show in the world, and it appeared Pam's sex symbol-dom had reached its apex. But then a sex tape of her and husband Tommy Lee got leaked to the Internet and launched a cottage industry of leaked intimate tapes between beautiful young actresses and their smarmy boyfriends (Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian soon followed suit.) Though embarrassing, it transformed Anderson into a whole new kind of icon one who straddled the legitimate and increasingly mainstream pornographic world without seeming out of place in either one. Once she became a punchline in Sacha Baron Cohen's movie "Borat," however, it was apparent her influence was on the wane. (All American Television)

When: 1990-2006 Sex symbolism: She got her start, like so many sex symbols, in the pages of Playboy, but it was the sight of her bounding (and bouncing) through the surf as California lifeguard C.J. Parker on "Baywatch" that cemented her sex symbol status. For a while the series was the biggest television show in the world, and it appeared Pam's sex symbol-dom had reached its apex. But then a sex tape of her and husband Tommy Lee got leaked to the Internet and launched a cottage industry of leaked intimate tapes between beautiful young actresses and their smarmy boyfriends (Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian soon followed suit.) Though embarrassing, it transformed Anderson into a whole new kind of icon one who straddled the legitimate and increasingly mainstream pornographic world without seeming out of place in either one. Once she became a punchline in Sacha Baron Cohen's movie "Borat," however, it was apparent her influence was on the wane.